Acoustic arrays comprising one or more discrete microphone transducers are useful in producing directional response characteristics. Arrays with such characteristics are particularly useful in noisy environments, wherein sources of sound to be detected and noise to be rejected are directionally distinct.
In providing desirable directional response characteristics, the number, shape, and location of microphone transducers in an array may vary significantly from application to application. Transducers of irregular or non-standard shape and size may be expensive to fabricate. Moreover, imprecise fabrication and location techniques may result in significant degradation of an array's response characteristics.